Where Is My Mind
by YourHair'sOnFire
Summary: GLaDOS doesn't understand why Chell still trusts Wheatey, but she might be willing to help Chell. (Not mute Chell and android Wheatley and GLaDOS) Possible Songfic?
1. Stop

"...Is it all right if I kill Him?"

GLaDOS smirked at her own question. Of course it would be okay, she thought. He tries to kill us, we try to kill him, simple. Chell knew Him a lot longer than I, so she would probably want to kill him the most. I shouldn't have to ask! I guess being put out of my usual system makes me feel more vulnerable.

Chell turned back and stared at GLaDOS, an icy, venamous, murderous stare. As Chell stared at her, she at first thought that stare was targeted to Wheatley, but after a moments thought GLaDOS realized it was targeted towards herself. Chell opened her mouth breifly, closed it, shook her head and continued on in her brisk pace. GLaDOS crossed her arms and followed. "Why not?" she asked, almost cringing at how juvenile this statement sounded. Chell stopped, her shoulders raised and stiff. She lingered there for a couple moments, and walked again, faster.

GLaDOS rolled her eyes and followed again. "Well, there has to be a reason," she stated. She snapped her fingers when I came to the conclusion. "Oh, you pity the moron, don't you? Don't worry; I used to, too. Then I realized he was a moron and that he deserved to die. So, I can kill him?" Chell shook her head, avoiding eye contact. GLaDOS scoffed. "Oh, you're afraid of murder, aren't you? Don't worry, you don't have to get your hands dirty. I'll do all the work for you." Chell looked back quickly and ran ahead.

GLaDOS stood there, puzzled, for a moment, and hesitantly caught up with her. "Look," she said, exasperated. She barely had to move in her old body, so now that she is this powerless android in a potato sack, she's not very accustomed to exercise. "I know that you can talk. Before that moron kicked me out of my old body," she noticed that Chell always slightly cringes whenever She uses the word moron. "I took a couple glances at your file. It stated that you can talk, yet you choose not to, because you're so stubborn. So please tell me, because I know you're able to, why are you protective over the moron?" Chell furrowed her brow and sighed.

"You wouldn't understand," she breathed quietly, and she trekked on, a lot slower. GLaDOS scoffed again and walked along with her.

"How dare you say that;" She stated flatly, crossing her arms once again. Chell quickened her pace a small bit. "Even though I'm not an omnipotent robot anymore, I still have the brain of one. I doubt that won't be able to understand simple human emotions," She didn't know why she used the word emotions instead of statements, but the word felt right for some reason. Chell stopped and rested a hand on GLaDOS's shoulder.

"You wouldn't understand," she whispered again, and her hand limply fell off of Her shoulder and it wrapped back around her portal device. She looked away and leaned against a girder, previously having been covered in conversion gel. "It's complicated, and there's no way in hell that you, of all androids, can relate." GLaDOS laughed.

"I'm eighty years old," GLaDOS told her. "I'm pretty sure that I can relate to most things. Unless, of course, you're afraid of me being mad at you. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm virtually exposed at this point, vulnerable and alone. Powerless. The most I can do is yell at you, but I don't think I can resort to doing something that low brow." Chell smirked. "You can tell me. Even if I can't relate, I can at least listen." Chell sighed and sat down, still leaning on the girder. GLaDOS sat down with her.

"Could I tell you a story first?" Chell asked, wrapping her arms around her knees. GLaDOS shrugged. "It was a while ago, I don't know how long, though. I had been running for a while, with someone else, and..."

* * *

_Wheatley ducked and got into the crawlspace. It was a pretty open place for a crawlspace, almost like a room. If it weren't for the hastily drawn, utterly mad drawings on the wall, than it would actually be a nice place. Chell ran her fingers along the walls, getting faint outlines of paint on her fingertips. She was still gripping her portal gun with the force of a mother protecting a child against a title wave the only way she could: By holding on as tightly as she could._

_Chell brushed her fingers together, mixing the blue and orange into a smeared, ugly purple. She wiped her hand on her jeans, unwilling to add the gross purple to the beautiful wall. On the wall was a picture of a skull, with a cloudy, colorful brain, complete with 50% water and a couple of fish. Around the skull were hasty scribbles of the sentence, "Where is my mind, where is my mind," Until you reached the mouth of the skull, in which the words coming out were "Way out in the water..."_

_Chell smiled, feeling a tug of pity in her chest. This obviously schizophrenic man who had written these insane rantings on the wall was most likely the most intelligent man she had ever...Not exactly met, but she had seen his work. Chell saw a small radio leaning against the wall with the art, and deciding that she had nothing better to do, she kicked it._

_Music immediately started to play as it hit the dusty floor, and Chell went red in the face. Wheatley, who had been distracted by something on the ceiling, turned to Chell and raised an eyebrow. Chell opened her mouth, closed it, and scrambled to the radio, trying to find an off button. There wasn't one._

_"Nonononononononono, keep it on!" Wheatley asked, holding up his hands. "I love this song! In between waking up test subjects, I was allowed to play loud music to see if that would wake them all up simultaneously. I played this song a lot." Chell glanced back at the radio. It started off with acoustic guitar, until it moved onto drums and electric guitar. (At this point, you might want to start listening to where is my mind, by The Pixies)_

_"With your feet in the air and your head on the ground," The radio played. Chell looked back at Wheatley and stood up. Wheatley cleared his throat._

_"This might be an utterly idiotic question," He said, kicking his foot on the ground softly. "But...I was wondering, would you like to dance? NOWHEARMEOUT!" he said quickly before she could totally reject him. "We're out of her grasp for at least five minutes, and this song is about four minutes long. Plus, we have a moment to just finally relax, so what's the worst that can- you know what, not gonna say that, but, would you like to dance? Please?" Chell furrowed her brow and looked back at the radio. She finally sighed and set down her gun._

_Wheatley smiled and held out a hand. "This song is somewhat slow," He said. "I mean, besides the 'rock' part. So, I think the safest choice is to try slow dancing." Chell reluctantly took his hand and he pulled her in awkwardly. She put her other hand on his shoulder, and gripped his hand tightly. Wheatley, afraid of getting slapped for this, put his arm around her waist. That's what you do in slow dancing, right? Wheatley could barely remember. Chell blushed, and reached her arm to Wheatley's other shoulder, sort of putting an arm around his neck._

_Wheatley blinked. "Well, um, now..." He cleared his throat, seeming to be at a loss for words. "Y-You know what to do during a slow dance, I'm assuming?" Chell nodded. They walked around in a circle, slowly. Wheatley smiled at this point, for some reason. Despite the fact that they were on the run from a power mad robot, he felt pretty content. And, for lack of a better term, happy. Happy that he could dance with this woman, and no one else would see them._

_Chell rested her head against his chest, and Wheatley stiffened. He almost tripped over his own feet, but regained control over them at the last second. Chell closed her eyes and let the music take over. It was odd to have your head resting on the chest of a man who didn't breathe, but for some reason it felt normal with Wheatley. Wheatley made a lot of odd things feel normal. Possibly because he was just so comfortable to be around. His endless chattering was like a calm waterfall on her psyche, making her feel like she could do anything. Finally someone to agree with her, to say 'Oh, you're not alone, I also think that she's a total cow.' Being independent for so long took a toll on you, making you feel so insignificant. But when there was someone to follow you, to agree with what you feel, to help you..._

_Chell raised her head from Wheatley's chest and looked at him. He looked back at her, with a content smile on his face. Chell found herself inching closer and closer to his face. Wheatley's eyes widened, and not knowing what to do, he put a hand on the side of her face. They both moved their faces closer and closer, until-_

_The song stopped._

_The radio just fuzzed into static, and Chell snapped out of wherever she was. She let go of Wheatley's hand and took her arm away from his neck. She set the radio upright and grabbed her portal gun, feeling a small twinge of regret for some reason. Wheatley cleared his throat. "Right," he said, brushing off his tie. "We should be heading out now. We can't spend too much time just dillying and dallying along!" He let out a nervous laugh, and the stepped out of the crawlspace into the cold, harsh abyss of Aperture._

* * *

Chell wiped her watery eyes and cleared her throat. GLaDOS stared at her. "That's it?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. "That's why you trust the moron? Just because you danced with him?" Chell shrugged.

"There's more to it than that, but I thought that that story could be a nice example,"

"That's idiotic!" GLaDOS exclaimed. "The moron tried to kill us, took over my body, and you trust him because you stupidly danced with him! I could dance with a potato, but I wouldn't trust it!" Chell stood up.

"I told you that you wouldn't understand," she said, walking away. "I finally had someone I could relate to, someone to actually trust,"

"Well, you can't trust him now, can you?" GLaDOS snapped. Chell stopped and looked back at GLaDOS, bloody murder in her eyes. Chell stood there for a couple moments, shot a portal to a random building with a portal surface, shot another portal on the girder and stepped in. Before GLaDOS could follow, Chell shot another portal right next to the one on the girder.


	2. Feet in the Air

**ZOMG THIS CHAPTER WAS CRAP WHYYYYY**

**In all seriousness, thank you to all the people who viewed and who are waiting for the next chapter (if there even is anyone who is doing that). I don't own Portal. Valve does. You should know that by now. **

* * *

Chell looked down at the water from the top of the stray building. She set her hands on the cold railing lining the platform. She inhaled the recycled air that she had been breathing for as long as she could remember. As she exhaled, a tear rolled down her face. She quickly wiped it away. She had to be strong, not show any signs of weakness. She had fought this long, she could fight longer.

Chell sighed and sat down. It was actually pretty depressing to think of her own life, think of how many years have been wasted here. At least she didn't show many signs of aging. She sighed, looking out into the murky water, possibly having been flooded from a nearby polluted lake. This place was underground, anyway. Chell hung her head and decided to look at the cold, hard concrete. A flyaway flew by her face and she tucked it behind her ear.

I'm just delaying the inevitable, she thought. I'm going to have to face him in the end, maybe even-

She shuddered. It can't come to that. She could not kill him, no matter the circumstances. He tried to kill her, she still couldn't kill him. Just-she couldn't. It was that simple. Even though it made her feel so weak and insignificant, she still couldn't kill him. She sighed and cast her slate grey, glassy eyes to the water. She felt an irresistable urge to sing, for some reason.

"With your feet in the air and your head in the ground," Chell sang softly, removing her hair tie. "Try this trick, and spin it," Her hair draped gracefully around her shoulders. "Your head'll collapse, if there's nothing in it, and you'll ask yourself: Where is my mind," Her voice cracked and she coughed. "Where is my mind. Way out in the water," A tear fell down her cheek and dropped into the murky water. Chell followed it with her eyes. "See it-" She let out a small sob. "Swimming," She finally gave in and cried, unaware of how long.

She temporarily composed herself and cast her blurry eyes elsewhere, to a distant point. She squinted her eyes, thinking that she saw a portal surface far from old aperture. She shot her gun at the surface, just to be safe, and yes indeed, there was a portal. Chell blinked, climbed on the rails, and jumped down. GLaDOS gave her a confused glance as they both stepped into the portal.

"Where are we?" GLaDOS asked. Chell didn't answer, she didn't know either. "It's definitely far from the older parts of Aperture, but it still has that..." She scowled. "Nostalgic...Sixties...vibe to it. Do you think that we're closer to him?" Chell stiffened and her pace slowed, but she continued without answering.

A "You Are Here" sign approached them and Chell stopped. They were at the end of the map, close to the "Storage Quarters Upstairs" which would later be used for the modern test chambers and lairs. The sign was next to a dead end, with ladder steps trailing up the copper wall, no portal surfaces. Chell saw many rusty steps breaking, and after she clenched her hand around one for ten seconds, it left a deep, soft imprint of where her hand had been.

Chell inhaled deeply in an annoyed fashion and looked around. There was next to nothing that was useful besides the crap ladder and vent that you could only reach by climbing up the damn thing. She cautiously put a long fall boot on a step and it immediately fell off. She pondered for a moment how she could get up there, or if it was even worth getting up there.

At that moment she noticed that the metal wiring of the step still remained. She put her boot on it, and it seemed stable enough. She stepped and put all her weight on it, and it was holding on. Putting her hands on the next step, she wrenched the frail metal off until only the wiring remained. She continued with this routine for a while, getting rust and residue on her hands, causing wounds and rashes. But she fought through all this, pushing herself to the vent. GLaDOS was timid, but not having too much trouble besides stains on her metal android hands.

They reached the vent, and Chell kicked it open with the butt of her portal gun, keeping her arm firmly around the wiring. It was a pretty large vent, open enough to be simple enough to get in. She pushed her gun in first, and put her hands at the bottom of the vent. She then released her feet off of the wiring, hung by her hands for a moment, and pulled herself up into the vent. GLaDOS followed, yet it took a little more time.

They crawled in determined silence through the dusty vent, no idea what it lead to. Hell, it could lead to mutated alligators, and that would still be mild by Aperture's standards. "So..." GLaDOS started to talk, just to break the silence. "Why did you take out the hair tie?" She groaned. "You didn't take it out to impress him at all, did you?" Chell stopped and looked at her. In Chell's eyes was an unfathomable amount of annoyance. She reached for the hair tie around her wrist. "No," GLaDOS interuppted. "It's fine if you leave it out, but if you just took it out to impress him, I don't think I'd ever be able to look at you ever again." Chell released the hair tie and the sound of it snapping back against her wrist echoed through the vent. They trekked on, returning to the silence.

They continued for god knows how long, until Chell held up a hand behind her, stopping GLaDOS. They had reached the other side of the vent, and Chell could hear Wheatley verbally abusing the frankenturrets. Chell hit the vent with the butt of her gun lightly, and it fell off. Chell cursed Aperture for being so damn fragile, yet she still couldn't get out.

The vent fell and clattered to the ground loudly, the sound echoing around the large test chamber. As the sound died down, Chell looked at a large monitor with the image of Wheatley looking straight back at her, with probably the exact same dumbfounded expression.


	3. Head on the Ground

Wheatley stared at her in the vent for a few moments, and then smirked."'Ello!" he said. "Welcome back! I see that you're finally ready to test again! Brilliant! Just hop down, and we'll get right to it!" Chell glared at him and sat down in the vent. Wheatley raised an eyebrow. "Okaaay..." He said, slightly weirded out. "Just, stay there for about, I don't know, five more minutes, and I'll just tear away that vent," They remained for ten more minutes, Chell staying in the same place, and Wheatley with his hand through his hair. "Look," he said, holding his hands up, more than slightly annoyed. "What will it take you to get away from that stupid vent? Is it comfortable in there? Are you in love with it, somehow? I don't necessarily see how, but if you are, I guess I just don't get it," Chell shook her head and Wheatley groaned.

"Look, I've really, really wanted to test for a while, can you just cut me a break? Please?"

"You don't want to test!" GLaDOS yelled. "Your euphoria system does!" Wheatley smiled.

"Oh, you brought her along with you?" he asked in a mocking tone. "Someone to tag along with you before you completely die? Of course, that's just a distraction." He narrowed his eyes. "Also, euphoria isn't a word. Stupid," He smirked at this excellent comeback. "Anyway, just get out of that vent! Please?" Chell crossed her arms. She wasn't usually one to avoid the enemy, but she felt she was humoring him for the time being until their showdown. Either that, or delaying the inevitable again. But she didn't want to admit that.

Suddenly, the entire building started to shake. "WARNING," a voice came out from the intercom and echoed throughout the test chamber. "EXPLOSION IMMINENT." The vent started to shake violently, and Chell hopped down. She wasn't in her best mindset right now, but she wasn't stupid enough to stay in that vent.

"This place will explode, moron!" GLaDOS yelled. Her potato sack android body definitely took fall damage, and if she jumped, it would be the end for her. "Let me get back in my body!" Wheatley snorted.

"And why would I let that happen?" he asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow. "I'm not gonna give up royalty just for some potato and her mute friend over there," Chell noticed that his confident demeanor slightly shrank when he said "mute friend". "No matter how much you both plead. Oh wait, I forgot, mutes can't plead, can-"

"She's not mute!" GLaDOS remarked. Chell froze. She new that as soon as Wheatley found out she could talk, he'd be prying into her voice box and trying to get her to talk like a bloody parrot. "She can talk, she's just stubborn about it." Wheatley looked at Chell and blinked.

"You can talk?" Wheatley asked. At this point Chell knew GLaDOS was just using this as a distraction. "That's bloody brilliant, luv! You finally-" Wheatley stopped to see GLaDOS smirking. He cleared his throat. "Fine," he said calmly. "You can talk, good for you. What does your voice sound like?" Chell exhaled menacingly. She didn't want to be asked to do tricks like a flipping circus animal, she wanted to be treated like a human being. She wanted to portal off, and...

She had forgotten her portal gun up in the vent, hadn't she?

Chell turned to GLaDOS, making a subtle trigger-pulling movement with her arms. GLaDOS nodded and reached for the portal gun in front of her. "Oh, forgot your gun, did you?" Wheatley teased. He then dislodged half of the chamber away, casting the left half with the vent (and GLaDOS) about fifty feet away. The chamber looked completely disheveled now, like someone had just torn a box in half and pushed the left half to the side. "Good. She's out of the way now. You can now do all the testing you want with no distractions, or-" He stopped and remembered she didn't have the portal gun anymore. "Oh yeah. Well, I'll just make up some tests without portal guns. Or need for portal guns. How 'bout that, Miss-I'm-Suddenly-Not-Mute-Anymore?" Chell sighed and picked up one of the disfigured boxturrets. It squealed, and she pet it softly and set it on a button. A door opened, and Wheatley sighed. "There it is," he said. "Testing..." He ran a hand through his hair, and Chell moved on to the next chamber.

* * *

"AUGH! This isn't WORKING! You've just been putting boxes on buttons for the last two hours! What is wrong with you?!"

Chell rolled her eyes and sat down on a regular box, which Wheatley had provided in the last chamber to "spice things up". "I could get your gun..." he pondered, but he shook off the idea. "No, nope, She'll definitely put up a fight for it, and I'm really not in the mood to meddle with Her at the moment." He sighed, and the sound of him drumming his fingers echoed around the chamber, bouncing off of the asylum white walls. He snapped his fingers. "Oh! I've got an idea, go to the next chamber! This will be brilliant!" Chell raised an eyebrow and hopped off the box. The door opened and Chell walked through. Inside the next chamber, there were two boxes and two buttons.

"Ha! Two buttons!" Wheatley said smugly. "And two boxes! Which boxes go where, and-oh, you solved it." He sighed. "Good. Brilliant. I, I, THIS ISN'T BLOODY WORKING!" The boxes suddenly exploded, and the door slammed shut. "I'm going to come down there, and see what's going wrong! The damn security camera isn't enough, I need full view of everything!" The monitor screen shut down, leaving a confused Chell to stand there and space out. First of all, coming down to the test chamber was not a solution that made the made sense. He was already in full view of everything, and coming down to the test chamber would probably make the view worse. Unless it was just an excuse-

"Hey!" Chell looked up to the blurred window at the top of the chamber. She could see the silhouette of GLaDOS, watching her. "The vents lead to the light and sound controls, and that moron is coming to this chamber away from his chamber, correct? Alright, I think I might be able to distract that moron for enough time to find a way to get back in my body." Chell nodded, feeling a bit sick inside, for some reason.

Chell waited for Wheatley, and he soon came down in an emergency lift. His eyes were cold and dead when he fully stepped into the chamber. He looked so different, even though he only had a couple small changes. His workshirt was untucked and wrinkled, he was so pale and...well, for lack of a better term, dead. His hair was unkempt, but not in a boyish way like it had been previously, instead it was just threatening now. He smirked and walked up to her.

"You're lucky," he said. "I had to unplug myself from the bloody mainframe just to come down here and see this stupid test chamber." His eyes lingered with hers for a moment, but he broke them away and looked around the chamber. "It looks fine," he mumbled, putting his hands in his pockets. "Everything seems to be in just flippin' PEACHY order, so why isn't this working!" he pulled at his hair and gave an agitated sigh, knocking his glasses away in the process. Chell started to walk to them and reach for them, until Wheatley slapped her hand away and picked them up himself. Chell glared at him and balled her hands into fists. It was getting difficult to not hate him, but she still couldn't bring herself to.

The lights above them started to flicker, and Chell gave a small smile. GLaDOS was probably up to the light and sound controls, and messing around with them. Chell wondered what would be GLaDOS's REAL distraction. What would be the major thing to distract Wheatley so She could get back in the central main-

Acoustic guitar started to play over the speaker, interrupting Chell's train of thought.

Yet, this acoustic sounded familiar. Until it moved onto an even more familiar set of electric guitar and drums-Oh god, no. THAT song. Why in the world did THAT song have to be a distraction? Wheatley looked at her and cocked his head. "Where did that come from?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. The song lingered on, and he smiled. "Oh, very funny, 'your head'll collapse if there's nothing in it', taking another jab at my intelligence, I see! You two probably planned this, didn't you?" Chell looked at him.

"You don't remember?" she said softly. His eyes widened.

"Remember, wh-what are you...I remember." He looked at the floor and sighed. "I remember." They stood there for a moment, and just as the song was ending, Chell laced her fingers with his. He looked up, shocked. The song ended, and they just stood in silence for a while. Wheatley started to turn away, when the song looped. Wheatley groaned and looked at the ceiling. "Why the hell is that song playing? Did the sound glitch or something? I really don't-" He stopped and looked at Chell. Maybe it was because of the nostalgia of this song, or the fact that she was holding his hand, but her came to a realization. He never actually realized how different she was from all the other test subjects he had tried to help escape. They all just died, or had crawled into corners to die. But she, she was different. So bloody persistent and hardworking, just going on and on and on, so she could finally get out, so THEY could finally get out. She was so smart and, and brilliant in every way, and the way her eyes sparkled whenever she was happy even though she never smiled, and just so beautiful-

"This may seem like a horribly awful question," he said suddenly. "After everything I've done, but would you like to dance?" Chell opened her mouth, bit her lip, and nodded. Wheatley gave a small smile and released his grip of Chell's hand. She hesitantly set her hands around the back of Wheatley's neck, lacing her own fingers together. Wheatley put his arms around Chell's waist, and they danced again.

Chell didn't know why she was dancing with him, again. He was supposed to be the enemy, the man she loathed, but here she was, dancing with the enemy to The Pixies. Sure, it was a distraction, but she felt that it was more than that. Like, making up for something that had happened. She kept reminding herself that Wheatley had asked HER, and if she had said no...

Nothing would happen. He unplugged himself from the central mainframe, so he couldn't control giant spike plates, unless he had some portable control literally up his sleeve. His excuse to come down here was so weak though, "to see the entire chamber in person," or something. He could've easily seen the entire chamber from his lair, if not see it better. Unless...No, nope, he didn't just come down to see her. It was a stupid, idiotic thought and Chell hated herself just for thinking it.

Chell set her head on Wheatley's chest and closed her eyes. This was all too familiar, like when they were friends. Not enemies. Back when they roamed around Aperture, trying to find anything and everything they could to get out and run away from that stupid place together.

"Do you ever regret it?" Chell asked quietly. Wheatley's pace slowed slightly, and he looked down at Chell.

"R-Regret what?" he asked, feigning ignorance. Chell greeted his eyes with a cold stare, and Wheatley flinched.

"You know what. Concerning the fall." she stated flatly. Wheatley swallowed.

"Um, I, uh..." He forced himself to remain eye contact. "T-To be completely honest, I, ah, d-don't really know," Chell raised an eyebrow and Wheatley drew a tight breath. "Well, what do you want me to say? I can't just openly say that I feel proud of punching you into that bloody pit, I don't want to lie to you! I just-I just hated being called a moron, okay?! I hated hurting you, but I pushed away those stupid thoughts because I was finally important, finally something worthwhile, finally something to, to...T-to get your attention, luv. So you can see me as something that isn't just following you for the sake of following you, I'm more than that!" Chell put her head on his chest again as he continued to ramble. "I don't just follow you around so I can be bloody comic relief, I truly wanted to help you. I-You're different, luv. I knew you'd abandon me once you could get out of this hellhole, so I wanted the chance to help you. So you can see me as an, an assistant, of sorts, y'know. But I had to royally arse things up, didn't I?! Okay, I admit it; I DO regret being all royal and omnipotent, but I thought that if I could be happy, it would finally make you happy. I just wanted to see you happy, luv, but you weren't. I-I lashed out, started to see you as a scapegoat for my own bloody mistakes, but how well did that work out?!" His voice echoed around the chamber as it rose.

"I had to turn it into one big thing, didn't I?!" They weren't even dancing anymore, just standing there with Chell's arms around Wheatley's shoulders and his arms around her waist. "I-I got so bloody angry, and I had such a damn ego, I couldn't just turn away...I wasn't self aware until a while ago...I was just on and angsty autopilot, why couldn't I have a bit of empathy? Why couldn't I just consider how brilliant you are?" Chell raised her head and looked a Wheatley. His eyes were shaking, pleading. She cocked her head and he put a hand on the side of her face, out of random instinct.

"How bloody brilliant..." Chell found herself inching closer to his eye level, his face. "You are..." Their faces inched closer, and closer, so close, until


	4. Try This Trick

GLaDOS stared open mouthed at what She saw on the crappy monitor in front of Her. Chell was kissing the enemy, the...

Moron.

When GLaDOS had first put on the song for the distraction, nothing seemed to be happening. The moron was confused, and acted guilty, leaving Her to just sit there and drum her fingers. She became a bit more alert when Chell took the moron's hand. He started to turn away, and GLaDOS put on the song again, for another distraction (and to see what would happen). The moron got confused again, and stopped midsentence this time.

GLaDOS had straightened up, and listened to that moron ask Chell to dance. She expected Chell to dismiss that idea, bat it off like it was nothing. But she...accepted that MORON'S request. GLaDOS was gritting her teeth, watching them dance. At first, she thought "Oh, this is just a distraction, good plan" but NOPE, it just lingered on.

The moron was rambling about how he did regret something, he didn't want to "hurt" Chell. GLaDOS wasn't buying it, and She was rolling her eyes profusely. That is, until the moron started to say Chell was brilliant. She bored her eyes into the monitor, seeing Chell look up at the moron. Ugh, was she actually giving in to him complimenting her?

GLaDOS watched in dismay as their faces inched closer, their eyes fluttered closed, and their lips touched. GLaDOS' eye twitched. "No..." she whispered. "Is she literally THAT stupid to fall for the moron?! He's the ENEMY, YOU DON'T KISS THE ENEMY!" She should've just ran back to Her chamber so she could get back in Her own body, but she couldn't break her eyes from this display of idiocy. She was so tempted to turn the song off while they were dancing, but she just wanted to see what would happen. But She didn't expect...this.

The moron ran a hand through Chell's hair and GLaDOS gagged. Yup, okay, that was enough. She turned the song off, and their eyes opened quickly. They both looked surprised, like they had no idea what just happened. They broke away from eachother, looking slightly embarassed. Okay, more than SLIGHTLY embarassed. The moron coughed and fiddled with his crimson tie.

"Y-You know," he said. "I-" GLaDOS turned of the monitor and groaned. She wasn't staying for any apologies, or "love confessions," or any of that other generic crap.

"Idiots..." She mumbled, setting her face in her hands. Why did Chell have to be so, so frustrating sometimes? First she admitted that she trusted the moron, and now she kissed the moron? GLaDOS sighed and turned on the monitor again, her curiosity getting the better of her. They were both standing there awkwardly, looking at the ground. Maybe they had kissed again or something, She didn't know. (Just for clarification, no, that did not happen)

"...I'm not a trusting person, Wheatley." Chell said, breaking the silence. Well, at least she was saying SOMETHING sensible. "For as long as I've remembered, I've been isolated, alone, independent. No one has ever acknowledged my opinions, thoughts, or even the fact that I'm a sentient being with opinions and thoughts. To be honest, I couldn't care less, I just want to get out. But...I think you can imagine how confusing it is to trust someone out of the blue. I...You're really my only friend, the only person I think it should make sense to trust. I've been on the run for so long, and no one has ever been so...so kind to me, or took my thoughts into account. You did, though.

"I'm not dependent on you, and I do get annoyed by you sometimes. There are times when I don't particularly like you even, but, I trust you. It makes me feel so insignificant and unconfident, but I do." She sighed and kicked at the ground, looking angry at herself. Wheatley walked over to her and laid a consoling hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and threw her arms around him, pulling him into an embrace.

GLaDOS sat there, not really sure how she felt about all this. She turned away from the monitor, wordless, and crawled into the exiting vent. Chell's words replayed in her mind, "I trust you, I trust you,". She trusted the moron.

Because he was kind to her. He was a sight for sore eyes after she had been put through so much, a break, of sorts. His bubbly, awkward demeanor was a nice one to face after being the definition of hardship, having come near death. He was on the same boat as her, he wanted to escape, as did she. Someone to finally agree with you, and someone who you didn't have to be scared to look at. When listening to him, it's like the troubles haven't completely vanished, but they're easier to go through now.

GLaDOS sighed, and it echoed around the vent, as if her thoughts were bouncing off of the metal walls. She came to a decision. It wasn't the best one in her mind, but it was a decision.

* * *

GLaDOS slipped from the vent and into her lair, expressionless. The mainframe, where her old body was, was empty. She went over to the manual power controls and started typing.

GUI/(replacemainframecore)continue=y

(SERVER) absent. replace/find

replace

(SERVER)replacement core engineercode

(SERVER)valid core. continue? y/n

GLaDOS hesitated for a moment, thinking of the decisions she would make after this. She sighed and typed y.

(SERVER)mainframe password:

applebagelunicronbluesky

(SERVER)valid password. mainframe booting up...

GLaDOS walked away from the manual power controls and went over to the mainframe. She plugged herself in and waited for the mainframe to boot up.

She didn't know what prompted this decision she was going to make after the mainframe would boot up and she would regain the controls. Just seeing how much those little idiots meant to eachother just stirred something inside of her. It wasn't a change of heart, she didn't have one, it was really more of a realization. They made eachother happy, which is something that neither of them had expirienced.

She sighed and leaned back while the mainframe slowly became more aware.

* * *

"I guess I just don't understand it," GLaDOS said over the intercom, looking at the two little idiots through the monitor. Wheatley looked around, not knowing how the voice had suddenly came back. "You two seem to be happy when around eachother, and that just doesn't make sense to me." Chell looked at the ground, seeming either angry or guilty. GLaDOS softly laughed.

"That doesn't mean that I don't condone happiness."

Chell looked up, genuinely surprised. "I've seldom encountered a happy moment," GLaDOS continued. "Let alone had another sentient being that makes me happy. Or content. But, it seems you and the moron make eachother happy, and I can allow that, even if I don't understand it. To humans, happiness is a rare, rare thing to come across, and you know what? You two found it in eachother. You were able to find light within another while you're in a place that's dark. And yes, that sounds incredibly cheesy, but not as cheesy as this next thing will sound:

"You win. You both win. I just...I'm amazed at the lengths you two will go to be happy. I can respect that. Now, this place is clearly not a place of happiness, so you two logically don't belong." A lift emerged from the ceiling and gradually came to the ground. Wheatley was grinning widely, and even Chell housed a small smile. "As I said, I don't understand you two. And you both have been the definition of trouble for me. So, I guess I'm GLaD that you two are going away. Forever. Please, don't come back."

The lift reached the ground and Wheatley looked down at Chell, who was crying a little bit. He smiled, took her hand, and the got in the lift. Chell leaned her head on Wheatley's arm silently as they gravitated upwards. Yes, this was probably a cruel joke, but happiness can do strange things with your mind. It just wanders off when you're with someone who makes you happy.

Finally, the lift stopped, and a door opened. Chell cupped her hands over her mouth and walked out into the moonlit atmosphere. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to grasp the stars and bright darkness. Wheatley hesitantly followed and the door slammed behind them. Chell looked behind her, only to see a shack with a loudspeaker mounted on the top.

Wheatley smiled and wiped a thumb under one of her eyes, partly drying her tears. Chell gave a small laugh and hugged him. Wheatley laughed too and stroked her hair, still grinning madly.

"Oh, one last thing:" GLaDOS said over the loudspeaker. Her voice was strangely muffled and different. It cut out for a moment, and Chell and Wheatley looked at eachother, confused. Suddenly, the loudspeaker clicked on again, and _that one song_ played.

Wheatley smiled down at Chell. "Well?" he said with a modest grin. "Would you like to try this trick a third time?" He spun Chell around, away from the shack. She laughed and nodded.

And so they danced, for they were finally happy.


End file.
